The off and on bite at Winyah Bay is directly related to the ups and downs of the tides. Small windows have opened when the redfish eat, and that’s usually coincided with an outgoing tide.
On Day 2, Travis Land and Jeremy Reeves filled their four-fish limit in about a half hour, starting with a double that ended in high fives. They finished the day with the event’s biggest bag at 16 pounds, 6 ounces. It topped Dwayne Eschete and Drew Cook’s Day 1 16-4 and put Land and Reeves in contention.
The Texas duo caught a single 3-7 on Friday to stand fourth, almost 13 pounds back of the lead. Their heavy limit pushed them to second with 19-13, just 1-1 behind leader Cody Chivas and Fred Myers of Florida.
As before the tournament began, teams said things can happen fast. Land and Reeves turned their event around lickety-split, hooking up simultaneously as the tide gushed past them.
“It was an outgoing tide, at the right place at the right time,” Land said. “The tide seems to gather those fish at that particular bank.”
“It seems like that tide is going around that point so quickly, it’s actually pushing them up against it,” Reeves said.
They said they could actually see the fish swim past their boat, and both pulled their baits away.
“They spooked, but they didn’t go far,” Reeves said. “Texas fish, they get spooked, they gone.”
The school resettled close by and they cast in front of them, hooking up for the only double so far in the tournament. The flurry gave the team a shot to win.
“I feel better than I’ve felt in a long time about a redfish tournament,” Land said. “That area we’re in is actually loaded. We saw a ton of fish prefishing in that spot. They just weren’t there. I told Jeremy let’s go try a spot that’s looks similar further south.”
It wasn’t long after they made the move during the FS1 break that they started whacking them.
“It’s a numbers thing to us,” Reeves said. “We’ve had a lot of numbers. These were all the same size fish, 20 to 22, that’s what we’re looking for. It we catch a 22 ½, it will be 5 or 6 pounds.”
Another big bag today could have them sharing the $75,000 first-place prize.
